Another excellent western with Tom Selleck. Starts out a little odd with the opening scenes being on a ship at sea. Several of the crew have obviously been shanghaied and one is dying. Tom swears to help the dying man's widow. After beating the snot out of the captain for letting Charley die and taking their pay, Tom and two others set out for Charley's ranch. They arrive and start fixing the place up. Wilford Brimley shows up as a great old timer!! I love his character in this movie!! Mark Harmon plays a smooth, suave bad man. Trying to use his manners to win over the widow, played by Virginia Madson. Harmon makes a great snake in this film!! Everyone learns you don't screw with Tom in a movie. Called out by one of Harmon's men, he kill's the man, after giving him several chances, and kills another on a roof who is laying in ambush. As the movie goes on you see a cow being pulled out of a tar pit and then it is apparent why Harmon wants the ranch, oil!!! Since the killings by Selleck Harmon has sent for some paid killer, bushwhacker types. The scum of the old west, like Tom Horn. Harmon starts felling the pressures so he tells Madson to wear the white dress,she has not only been married but had a kid,and they will marry the next day. The bushwhacker goes out and murders one of the men. Big mistake as you would expect in a movie such as this. Harmon grabs Madson, goes to the bar where the sheriff/justice of the peace is. Forcing the vows they are married. I love the rest as Madson fights Harmon until he knocks her out. After they bury the dead kid the remaining three load up and head for town. So the bushwhacker shows his true colors when he rides his horse in to a church to get position for another ambush. He has placed his two sycophants at strategic points in town. Man what a show down!! The bad guys die, the good guys win, and all turns out as expected.

All of the comments about Tom Selleck that have been made by other posters are absolutely right - he is the ultimate western hero. This film is the other half of "Quigley Down Under" and comes very close to being as 'painterly' as regards locations, lighting and photography as "Heaven's Gate". There was nothing about this film to alarm even the most delicate sensibilities and, for those with sons growing up, exposure to these two Selleck films might give the lads a glimpse of the kind of man it could be a matter of pride to emulate rather than the dubious 'heroes' of modern film and fiction whose crass brutality does none of us any good. L'Amour had a very precise understanding of what it took to be a man and everyone involved in "Crossfire Trail" translated his ideal perfectly onto film.

As a western star, selleck is right up there with john wayne. He has wayne's size and no nonsense no talk attitude. Nevertheless, this is not a great movie since the story is as old as the hills. As usual, the real stars here are the villains and mark harmon and brad johnson do a great job there. Virginia madsen plays the damsel in distress but was disappointing since she, at least in this movie, is not that pretty. The big shootout is something of a joke. As in all westerns you have gunmen hiding behind the flimsiest of barricades while blasting away. How is a wagon wheel gonna protect you? A couple of the bad guys just stand behind the swinging doors to the saloon and fire away! The wood must be all of a quarter inch thick. I give this movie a B.

Though it's well-photographed on attractive locations and features an above-average cast, the story is tired and familiar, and the climactic shootout downright silly. A herd of cattle in the middle of a small town (with no railroad--so why are the cattle in town at all?) wanders about in the middle of a blazing gunfight without so much as a horn being nicked. Bullets slam into the swinging doors of a saloon--we see splinters fly--without moving them a micrometer.But Selleck always comes across well in Westerns, especially when directed by Simon Wincer. The supporting cast do well, especially Mark Harmon as one of the nastiest small town bosses since Leslie Nielsen went goofy. But there isn't an original idea in the film; some ideas, such as conflict with Indians, are raised but then ignored.